Record and controversies

General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's articles on legislation. You can add information you find on how Mike Capuano voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to cite your sources!

Environmental record

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act

In 2006, When the Republican majority brought their ethics package, the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, to the floor, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) offered a motion to recommit with instructions to strike the text of the bill and replace it with the text of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, the Democrat's ethics bill. The motion to recommit failed by three votes, after Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) led a group of four Democrats, himself and Reps. Capuano, Rick Boucher (D-Va.), and Martin Sabo (D-Minn.), to vote with the Republicans.

Support for gun control

Bio

Capuano was born January 9, 1952 in Somerville, Massachusetts. He was educated at Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School, and served as legal counsel to the joint committee on taxation of the Massachusetts state legislature and as Mayor of Somerville (1990-1998), before entering the House.

Congressional career

According to his House biography, "Mike is a strong voice for residents of the 8th district. He fought to protect Massachusetts' share of federal transportation dollars during the debate over funding levels for the "Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users". Through his efforts, Massachusetts will receive $5.23 billion in funding over six years. He searches for ways to create more affordable housing opportunities for constituents and has fought against cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget. He succeeded in providing assistance for the development of new intergenerational housing for grandparents raising their grandchildren and in increasing the value of certain section 8 vouchers to offset rising housing costs. He also filed legislation to help service station owners forced to clean up sites that they are not responsible for contaminating."[1]

2006 elections

Head of Ethics Task Force

Capuano, head of the Ethics Task Force, which was established to examine whether an outside panel should investigate allegations against members, reported that operations will begin in private. [3]

On February 27, 2007, Capuano (D-Mass.), stated that “I have found that if you really want to solve problems, it’s better to have discussions than have the typical hearings where you ask witnesses three ‘gotcha’ questions and it’s a public exercise rather than a open discussion aimed at finding solutions.” Capuano also noted that the task force may hold public hearings at a later date. [4]

In January 2007, House SpeakerNancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority LeaderJohn Boehner (R-Ohio), named eight members to the bipartisan task force — four lawmakers from each party. The group held its first organizational meeting Friday, Feb. 16, and has aimed to report its findings by May 1. Capuano said the deadline would be difficult to meet considering last week’s recess and the two-week-long congressional spring break in April. [5]

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. <crpcontribdata>cid=N00000267&cycle=2006</crpcontribdata>

Links to more campaign contribution information for Mike Capuano
from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Committees: House Committee on Financial Services, House Committee on Financial Services/Subcommittee on Capital Markets Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, House Committee on Financial Services/Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on House Administration, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure/Subcommittee on Aviation, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure/Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure/Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, Joint Committee on Printing